Maury explains why the Germans have banned Cayla the talking (and listening!) doll. I ask whether the Germans next plan to ban speakerphones. (Likely answer: only if they come from America.)

Paul and I dig into the Amazon claim that the first amendment prevents enforcement of a criminal discovery order seeking Amazon Echo recordings. Hey, the suspect might have been ordering books, and that’s a first amendment activity, says Amazon, and anyway, what Alexa said back to the suspect was an exercise of Amazon’s first amendment rights. These arguments cry out for the command most frequently heard by my music-playing Echo: “Alexa, that’s enough.”

Paul explains the dramatic clash of cultures hidden in the otherwise esoteric battle between the GSA’s inspector general and “18F,” an Obama-meets-Silicon-Valley effort to streamline government IT development. Like any good tragedy, you knew from the start that this trainwreck was coming, but you still can’t look away.

The draft cyber executive order still isn’t out, despite what looks like a much more disciplined vetting process than other EOs went through. What’s the reward for running a good interagency process in a White House not noted for such discipline? The Homeland Security Council may get folded under the National Security Council.

Feb 22, 2017

In this episode, Stewart Baker goes to RSA and interviews the people that everyone at RSA is hoping to sell to – CISOs. In particular, John “Four” Flynn of Uber, Heather Adkins of Google, and Troels Oerting of Barclays Bank. We ask them what trends at RSA give them hope for the future, which make them weep, what’s truly new in cybersecurity, and what kind of help they would like from government.

While Stewart’s traveling, Alan Cohn takes over the news roundup. We start with some news from the RSA Conference keynotes. Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, called for a cyber “Geneva Convention” on behalf of the sovereign nation of Microsoft. And Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, announced his opposition to backdoors in encryption, lining up with former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden but against current Attorney General Jeff Sessions and current FBI Director Jim Comey.

In news from across the pond, Maury walks us through the EU’s efforts to take on robots. We coin the term #EURobotHammer in the process (it’s complicated). Maury also tells us whether the Russians are hacking the French elections (it’s complicated).

Back stateside, Alan asks what the cyber implications are of "out like Flynn, in with McMaster" at the National Security Council. Alan also confides in us about White House staffers’ use of confidential messaging apps like Confide (see what we did there?).

Feb 15, 2017

Our interview features a classic buzzkill headline: “Worthwhile Canadian Initiatives.” We explore multiple worthwhile Canadian initiatives with Dominic Rochon, deputy chief of policy and communications for CSE, Canada’s version of the NSA and with Patricia Kosseim, general counsel and director general for policy at the Office of Canada’s Privacy Commissioner. Among other things, we take a close look at Canada’s oversight regime for intelligence, in which a retired judge gets to exercise executive authority over the CSE – in contrast to the US system where active judges do the same but pretend they’re carrying out a judicial function.

In the news roundup, Judge Robart is doing his best to hog the judicial headlines, not only blocking the Trump administration’s immigration policy but giving support to Microsoft’s suit to overturn discovery gag orders en masse. His opinion allows Microsoft to proceed with a lawsuit claiming that gag orders violated the First Amendment.

The Trump Administration could soon begin asking foreigners coming to the United States — particularly from some Muslim-majority countries — to turn over their social media accounts and passwords. This is a policy begun under the Obama administration and supported by bipartisan homeland security groups. I predict that it will nonetheless soon be trashed by the press as an Evil Trump Initiative.

Tallinn 2.0 is out. It applies international law to cyber activity at and below the threshold of armed conflict. Color me skeptical.

The cybersecurity Executive Order that’s been hanging fire for weeks is still hanging fire. A new draft has been leaked, though, and it’s better.

Hal Martin is indicted for stealing massive amounts of data from NSA and perhaps others. According to a Washington Postreport, US officials think Martin may have stolen 75%of the NSA’s hacking tools. Ouch.

Feb 06, 2017

Our guest for episode 149 of the podcast is Jason Healey, whose Atlantic Council paper, “A Nonstate Strategy for Saving Cyberspace,” advocates for an explicit bias toward cyber defense and the private sector. He responds well to my skeptical questioning, and even my suggestion that his vision of “defense dominance” would be more marketable if paired with thigh-high leather boots and a bull whip. #50ShadesofCyber.

Michael and I also deconstruct Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s opinion in US v. Ackerman. The opinion calmly and clearly puts a hole below the waterline in a longstanding approach to collecting evidence in child porn cases. If this case gives a clue to his jurisprudence, it seems unlikely that a Justice Gorsuch will be a pushover for government arguments.

Feb 01, 2017

Our guest for episode 148 of the podcast is Corin Stone, the Executive Director of the National Security Agency. Corin handles some tough questions – should the new team dump PPD-28, how is morale at the agency after the Snowden and Shadowbroker leaks, and will fully separating Cyber Command from NSA mean new turf fights? I give Corin plenty of free advice and, more usefully, our first in-person award of the coveted Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast coffee mug.